One Man’s View: Country Boy Can’t Survive

Has
the time come for hall of famer Matt Hughes to walk away? | File
Photo: Fernando Allende/NY Post/Splash

Former welterweight champion Matt Hughes’
knockout loss to Josh
Koscheck in the UFC
135 co-main event on Saturday in Denver was a sobering reminder
of how the Old Guard in MMA is being swept out once and for all.
With each irrevocable moment -- be it Randy
Couture’s knockout defeat to Lyoto
Machida, Chuck
Liddell’s unceremonious exit against Rich
Franklin or the fall of any veteran who once ruled the roost --
the aging mixed martial artist is inexorably pushed toward the
door.

It takes a certain mentality to become an elite fighter, much less
a champion, and what makes one able to reach such a level is
precisely what makes it that much harder to know when to quit;
especially for those who for years heard what they could not do
from people who were ultimately wrong in their assessment.

It must be especially vexing for Hughes, whose five-defense reign
as champion was as intimidating and destructive as any that
preceded it. During those salad days, Hughes was known for training
minimally for bouts, showing up to get in, at most, a short camp
prior to walking into the Octagon to his signature entrance music
and crushing challengers. My favorite Hughes-is-AWOL story while
champion was his title defense against Sean Sherk at
UFC 42 in 2003, when the unbeaten challenger was preparing like a
maniac. It was originally told to me by Monte Cox and is worthy of
recounting here.

With two weeks left before his defense, nobody could find Hughes.
Finally, he showed up to train at the Miletich Fighting Systems
camp, with an exasperated Cox asking him where he had been.

“I had to help my brother put a new roof on,” replied Hughes. With
that, he went out to decision an inspired but ultimately
overmatched Sherk in five hard-charging rounds. That was the
quintessential Hughes, who always maintained that farming was
harder than training; his dominance was even more impressive
because it was well-known that he barely prepared for fights.

Josh
Koscheck File Photo

Koscheck's finish was devastating.

UFC 135 was equally painful for Hughes, perhaps
more so because he seemed to be planting the seeds of a possible
upset. Scoring with a persistent jab and seeming more confident
than ever in his standup, Hughes was putting together some solid
work in the opening four minutes. Then, suddenly, Koscheck decided
to scuttle it all, hammering home a right hook.

I’m not sure precisely when this laissez-faire approach ceased
entirely and was replaced by the dedicated Hughes that fully
prepared for fights, but it likely happened sometime near the end
of his title reign, when he knew that a second go-around with
then-challenger Georges
St. Pierre necessitated a full camp.

Nowadays, he trains far more than he did in his prime, with a
consistency those peak years never knew with any regularity, and he
gets beats more handily in the process. It is hard to imagine
what’s in his head after a thrashing like the one Koscheck
delivered.

In his post-fight interview with
UFC color analyst Joe Rogan, Hughes seemed to be the last one
in the Pepsi Center to get the cue that this was the ideal time to
announce his retirement, and his ensuing hedge on the question was
a poignant moment.

The sport has improved tremendously in the five years since he was
champion. One could also make the argument that Hughes has gotten
older, but, in a technical sense, it’s not like he has dropped off
anywhere to visible effect, and his standup is better than ever. It
is akin to Michael Jordan going from the most unstoppable offensive
force in the NBA to him struggling to score 15 points a night. Yet,
the sport stops for no fighter. Hughes’ merciless streak of
crushing defeats in recent bouts -- sandwiched around a sort of
Senior Tour pair of wins over Renzo Gracie
and Ricardo
Almeida -- only underscores how quickly a dominant skill set
can become obsolescent.

It also should be noted that Hughes has soldiered through some of
the worst twists and turns of matchmaking a fighter could endure.
Originally slated to face Matt Serra at
UFC 79 in December 2007, he instead took a fight with St. Pierre
after Serra pulled out five weeks before the bout. There have been
fewer rubber matches with so little suspense, as St. Pierre
dominated in a fashion that further illustrated the increasing
distance between them skill-wise.

In his next bout, Hughes stepped in on short notice against
Thiago
Alves to supply a main event on a UFC 85 card that was plagued
by injuries. Alves, who came in four pounds overweight, looked a
weight class bigger and it showed, as “The Pitbull” steamrolled
Hughes to win via crushing technical knockout. Then, he was slated
for a winnable matchup against Diego
Sanchez at UFC 135. Koscheck stepped in after Sanchez withdrew,
resulting in a stylistic U-turn that negated virtually every
advantage Hughes might have applied against Sanchez.

Hughes has taken plenty for the team -- an admirable role in recent
years -- but to continue at this point is beneath his legacy. It is
one thing for a never-quite-got-there veteran to serve an extended
role as a steppingstone, but it becomes a grim scene for someone of
Hughes’ stature. Here’s hoping the former champion knows he has
nothing left to prove and walks away for good.